The journey that the Los Angeles Lakers have been on over the last handful of seasons has been interesting, to say the least. In 2020, when the pandemic shut down the world and the NBA resumed play at the World Wide Sports Complex on Disney's campus in Florida, it was LeBron James and the Lakers that came out on top with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. Since then, the Lakers made it to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, but they failed to make it out of the first round this past year. This resulted in Darvin Ham being fired after just two seasons and Los Angeles being linked to numerous players in NBA free agency.
JJ Redick is now the head coach of the Lakers, and his task as a first-time head coach is to lead James and this organization to their 18th championship. Well, this won't be an easy task for Redick, especially since he inherits the same roster Los Angeles had when they lost in the first round of the playoffs last year.
To their credit, the Lakers did push the defending champion Denver Nuggets in this series. In fact, Denver trailed for a vast majority of these games and needed multiple second-half comebacks just to get past the Lakers. It isn't that the Lakers aren't talented, but it was apparent after losing in the playoffs that they need to make some minor roster adjustments.
That didn't happen this offseason.
The Lakers' main goal was to find ways to maximize their potential in free agency, especially if James was willing to take a paycut in order to bring in established talents who could help this franchise contend for a title. Aside from holding off on making a trade to this point, the Lakers were quiet when it came to NBA free agency.
Klay Thompson opted to sign with the Dallas Mavericks instead of heading to Los Angeles. Chris Paul decided to join Victor Wembanyama on the San Antonio Spurs. Caleb Martin was never a realistic target. Others, like DeMar DeRozan, Gary Trent Jr., and Spencer Dinwiddie, never truly considered the Lakers before signing their new deals, league sources told ClutchPoints. Due to LeBron and Anthony Davis dominating attention for this team, the lack of role and production is certainly something many free agents took into consideration when turning down offers from executive Rob Pelinka and the Lakers.
Even Tyus Jones, who recently signed a minimum deal with the Phoenix Suns, never seemed like a realistic option for the Lakers despite, rumored interest in the veteran point guard.
After drafting Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, the Lakers were left with no space to actually pull off a big acquisition in free agency unless they were able to land Thompson or DeRozan in a sign-and-trade. Neither of these scenarios advanced to serious discussions.
Ahead of August, the Lakers have been heavily criticized for their lack of moves this offseason. While they did agree to a couple of contracts in free agency, Los Angeles simply retained their own talent, starting with LeBron.
LeBron James
There was never an ounce of doubt that LeBron was going to leave in free agency after opting out of his contract. The Lakers envision the NBA's all-time leading scorer to remain with the franchise until he is ready to retire, which could very likely be after the 2025-26 season.
The question for James and the Lakers was what the price tag on his new contract would look like this offseason, especially with the 39-year-old making it clear to Pelinka that he would take a paycut if the team was able to lure Thompson to Los Angeles. Between his willingness to accept less money and also personally recruiting Thompson this summer, James proved that he is still wanting to win at least one more title before he is ready to call it quits in his career.
Even so, the Lakers were unable to fulfill James' wishes, which is why he took yet another “1+1” contract that he has become infamously known for during free agency negotiations. Essentially, signing this “two-year” contract with a player option in Year 2 gives James the ability to do the same exact thing he did this offseason next summer.
With Jimmy Butler, Khris Middleton, and possibly Kyrie Irving set to hit unrestricted free agency, LeBron will once again become a free agent next season and show a lot of willingness to accept less money in order for the Lakers to lure another star to Los Angeles. After all, the 2025-26 season could wind up being James' last, which could lead to a variety of stars wanting to help send him off with a title.
Overall, this is a solid deal for the Lakers because it is what was expected, and they have been able to remain below the second tax apron by just five figures. This new contract with James gives the Lakers the flexibility they need to continue exploring ways to upgrade their roster.
GRADE: A
Max Christie
Alongside James, Max Christie entered the offseason as a free agent for the Lakers. He did not remain a free agent for all that long, as the Lakers locked him up on a four-year, $32 million contract.
While keeping continuity and bringing back a young player you have spent time developing is great, why give Christie so much money? Sure, this is a standard approach with players coming off of rookie contracts that have earned the right to see an extension, but Christie has played in a total of 108 games for the Lakers over the last two seasons. In these games, he has scored only 412 points in 1,456 total minutes.
After averaging 3.8 points in 13.5 minutes per game, the third-year wing earned himself $32 million from Los Angeles.
For Christie and his agent, this is a fantastic deal, as they are sitting pretty over the next few seasons with guaranteed money in their pockets. From the Lakers' perspective, this is a risky contract given the times the NBA currently faces.
There are two ways things can go with Christie. He will either become a featured rotational player that will only get better due to his first two years of development, or he will end up on the trade block.
The problem with attempting to move Christie is that he is unproven, and no team is going to find value in his contract since it is fully guaranteed. He also owns an $8.85 million player option for the 2027-28 season. Given the new rules pertaining to the first and second taz aprons, this is a negative-value contract for any team to have since Christie hasn't done anything on the court.
The Lakers are really putting a lot of faith in the fact that Christie's third season will be his breakout year. Whether or not he will see time on the court in Redick's system is a whole separate question to ask. There is obviously a path to Christie seeing minutes on the wing with Taurean Prince's offseason departure, but can he grow into the 3-and-D player the Lakers need him to be?
Time will tell if this is a good investment for Los Angeles because, as of right now, this is a very risky move.
GRADE: C
Follow Us
Subscribe
